PYJ Starts to Campaign for Presidency

…As NEC Clears NDUP to Canvass for Members

Liberia’s National Elections Commission (NEC) has authorized the proposed National Democratic Union of Progress Party (NDUP) of Senator Prince Johnson to canvass for membership in Liberia.

The former leader of the defunct Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) threw his bid into the ring of the 2011 presidential contest of Liberia after President Ellen Johnson announced a second term during the State of the Nation address to the National Legislature on the second working Monday of January.

In a letter, NEC mandated the proposed National Democratic Union of Progress to seek 500 members each in six of the country’s 15 counties. The authorization is part of a requirement to ensure the registration of Senator Johnson’s party as a full fledged political institution in Liberia.

At a mass rally Saturday, Senator Johnson told his followers, the authorization marked the beginning of a victory battle for his party will win. He urged his followers not to be deterred by the misrepresentations of his character, declaring he is the Jacob Zuma of Liberia.

The Nimba Senator said his decision to contest the 2011 Presidency is to rescue Liberians from the ‘bondage of political and economic prison’.

Meanwhile, an executive member of Senator Prince Johnson’s proposed National Democratic Union of Progress Party has reported an attack on his home.

Former Nimba County lawmaker Benedict Bartuah said 15 men armed with AK-47 riffles broke into his house early Monday morning and raped his daughter. Mr. Bartuah said the men told his nineteen year old daughter to take responsibility for whatever they had planned to do to her father.

Mr. Batuah said he had gone to a relative’s house on the Old Road after an interaction with Senator Prince Johnson on Sunday when the men attacked. He believes the armed men had gone to his house for what he called political assassination.

Mr. Bartuah who claims to also be the Chairman of the Nimba Branch of the proposed NDUP said all attempts to contact the police or UN security failed. Although he claims to have nearly thirty-two years of military experience, Mr. Bartuah said he was still nervous and called on the government for protection.